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OKLAHOMA CITY — As Wesley Wright slid down the Astros’ organizational depth chart of lefthanded relievers, there were two attempts to shake up the status quo: They made him a starter, and they made him a sidearmer.

With neither having worked, the sidearm experiment having just been aborted mid-year, Wright knows the status quo will have to be what gets him back to the big leagues, where he made four starts and 130 relief appearances from 2008-10.

And that’s fine with him.

“I just felt I had more left in my arm over the top,” Wright said. “I still had some things I felt I could contribute over the top. The sidearm thing didn’t get off to a good start at the beginning of the year.

“I was just a little frustrated with it, and I wasn’t ready to give up on the old Wesley Wright.”

The old Wesley Wright was a Rule 5 pick of the Astros before the 2008 season. He showed promise as a rookie with 57 strikeouts in 55 2⁄3 innings, but a walk rate of 5.5 per nine innings hindered his success. After regressing a bit in 2009, Wright was sent to the minors, where in 2010 he became a starter.

That culminated in a poor run of four major league starts in 2010 in which he allowed 19 runs in 19 innings.

When Fernando Abad emerged as the Astros’ primary bullpen lefty, Wright went about trying to get back to the big leagues a different way, dropping his delivery down to a more deceptive sidearm this spring.

“He didn’t feel comfortable down there, so he gradually moved it back up,” Oklahoma City pitching coach Burt Hooton said. “Dropping down or arm angle wasn’t his problem; his problem was throwing strikes. He’s doing a better job of that lately.”

On the whole, it’s been a good year for Wright with the RedHawks, though he was passed over twice on lefty promotions as Sergio Escalona and Abad got the call.

Wright’s been better as he’s moved back up after a slow start, and overall, he has 31 strikeouts, 12 walks and a 3.13 ERA in 31 2⁄3 innings.

“I felt like there were some adjustments I needed to make, more mechanical than anything, to be able to continue to get the ball down in the zone, which I think was the initial reason we went to the sidearm delivery,” Wright said. “(The sidearm experiment) was actually good for me because I got to see how important it was to be down in the zone and keep guys from being able to elevate the ball on you.”

Foltynewicz fights back

To update a previous notebook about 2010 first-round pick Mike Foltynewicz, who couldn’t win: Well, now he can’t lose.

Since Foltynewicz went into his 20th pro start winless, he is unbeaten in his last seven.

And while neither category should be used in evaluating a prospect, it has understandably come with a turnaround in performance.

In his last seven starts, Foltynewicz is 4-0 with a 2.56 ERA. His strikeout rate is still low, with 40 in 751⁄3 innings for the year and a similar 20 in 382⁄3 innings in his last seven starts. Class A Lexington, where pitching coach Dave Borkowski preaches quick at-bats, finished the first half of the season second-to-last in the 14-team South Atlantic League in strikeouts.